You can’t go over it. You can’t go under it. Oh no, you’ve got to go through it. Photo: Jadyn Bennetts

Mud, sweat and tears in Longwood Forest

April 2026

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April 2026

What many regard as the least pleasant section of Te Araroa Trail is about to get a little easier.

Some descriptions of Southland’s Longwood Forest read more like letters from the Battle of the Somme than recollections of a tramping trip. For example, in journalist Naomi Arnold’s recent book on the trail, Northbound: Four seasons of solitude on Te Araroa, she writes: “I am stuck in here, this close, dense, green hell, and there […]
April 2026

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April 2026

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